Terrifically Exciting Force

When chef and author Robert Oliver was growing up in New Zealand “restaurant culture was just beginning and eating out was considered to be an indulgence, a rare treat.” “Ironic really, considering that, as I remember, most of the restaurant offerings were pretty terrible,” Oliver writes for The Huffington Post. “New Zealand cuisine has come of age. What is happening now in New Zealand restaurants is so terrifically exciting. New Zealand chefs and foodies have emerged as a leading cultural force. Chefs like Al Brown with his wonderfully Kiwi personae and no-bull restaurants, Samoan born Michael Meredith with his astounding Pacific gastronomy, Annabel Langbein and her ‘garden fresh’ approach, and Brett McGregor (our first Masterchef) with his local-global dishes and sheer likeability, and many more have thundered onto the world stage. Culinarily, we seem to have found ourselves.”